Iraq Report Card: Surge Is Working

Top U.S. Commander And Ambassador Warn Congress Against Major Shift Away From Current Strategy

(CBS/AP)  But he also said that there has been an overall decline in violence and said, "the level of security incidents has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June of 2006."

Petraeus also said the Iraqi military is slowly gaining competence and gradually "taking on more responsibility for their security."

He cited Anbar province as an example of Iraqis turning against terrorists, adding, "We are seeing similar actions in other locations as well."

Nevertheless, fresh polls reflected significant public opposition to the war. A USA Today-Gallup poll taken in the past few days found that 60 percent of those surveyed favor setting a timetable for removing troops. Only 35 percent favor keeping the troops in Iraq until the situation improves.

A CBS News/New York Times poll released Sunday found a growing number of Americans said the troop buildup was having a positive impact in Iraq. Thirty-five percent said the surge has made things better, up from 29 percent last month and 19 percent in July. Only 12 percent said it has made things worse, but nearly half said it has had no impact in either direction.

Another poll released Monday shows that an overwhelming number of Iraqis say the U.S. troop buildup has worsened security and the prospects for economic and political progress in their country.

Forty-seven percent of those surveyed in a poll conducted by ABC News, Britain's BBC, and Japan's public broadcaster NHK said they want American forces and their coalition allies to leave the country immediately. This was 12 percent more people than harbored those views in a March poll, just as the troop increase was beginning. And 57 percent, including nearly all Sunnis and half of Shiites, said they consider attacks on coalition forces acceptable, a slight increase over the past half year.

Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker were the only witnesses at a nationally televised hearing punctuated by numerous protests by anti-war demonstrators.

Over and over, Rep. Ike Skelton, the Missouri Democrat presiding, ordered police to remove the demonstrators. "This is intolerable," he said at one point.

Skelton and fellow lawmakers spoke first, as is customary in Congress, and Petraeus listened to more than 45 minutes of political rhetoric. His testimony was delayed another 10 minutes by a malfunctioning microphone, but when he began to speak, the lawmakers arrayed on the dias across from him listened intently.

Crocker followed Petraeus to the microphone, and employed some of the most stark rhetoric of the hearing.

Saying al Qaeda had "overplayed its hand" in Anbar province, he said, "Anbaris began to reject its excesses, be they beheading school children or cutting off people's fingers for smoking."

Skelton, a moderate Midwesterner and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, welcomed Petraeus to hearing with wistful words of praise.

Petraeus is "almost certainly the right man for the job in Iraq, but he's the right person three years too late and 250,000 troops short," he said.

Petraeus and Crocker listened quietly at the witness table as Skelton called on them to "tell us why we should continue sending our young men and women to fight and die if the Iraqis won't make the tough sacrifices leading to reconciliation."

"....Are we merely beating a dead horse?" the congressman asked.

The war is in its fifth year, and has claimed the lives of more than 3,700 U.S. troops.

Petraeus' greeting elsewhere wasn't nearly as warm as Skelton's praise.

"Cooking the books for the White House," charged the newspaper advertisement by MoveOn.Org, an allegation that Republicans swiftly challenged Democrats to disavow.

"These childish tactics are an insult to everyone fighting for our freedom in Iraq, and they should be condemned," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Nearly two dozen senators, all Republicans except for Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, called for Democrats to denounce the advertisement.

The appearance of Petraeus, more than Crocker, took on outsized importance. As both the architect and the commander of last winter's shift in strategy, he has won praise from lawmakers in both parties, and opinion polls show he has more credibility with the public on the war than Bush.

Democrats have been critical of Petraeus, but not nearly as scathing - or as personal - as the MoveOn advertisement.

"General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" it asked, a wordplay on his name.